Labour calls for High Court to investigate FitzPatrick

LABOUR LEADER Eamon Gilmore accused the Government of being “soft on corporate crime’’ when he again demanded that a High Court inspector investigate the activities of former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick.

“The matter of the Financial Regulator investigating this matter is a joke in the present circumstances,’’ said Mr Gilmore.

The Financial Regulator, he said, had 380 staff and was apparently getting quarterly reports about Mr FitzPatrick’s loans and it could not spot what was going on.

Mr Gilmore added that he had more confidence in the Director of Corporate Enforcement investigating it and he had the power, as he understood it, to apply for the appointment of a High Court inspector.

Mr Gilmore recalled that on December 18th, several hours after the Dáil went into recess for Christmas, Mr FitzPatrick had announced his resignation as bank chairman. This followed the disclosure that he had taken out loans of €87 million which, by shifting them periodically to another institution, he had concealed from the bank’s shareholders over eight years.

“We have subsequently found out that the total loans he had amounted to €129 million, an astonishing amount of money in any circumstances.’’

The Taoiseach, said Mr Gilmore, had said that problems in banking and the economy were happening in other countries.

“However, we see in other countries that wrongdoing is outed and illegality is punished. We see that people who have engaged in wrongful activities, or are accused of illegal activities, are arrested and, in some cases, are in custody awaiting trial.’’

Brian Cowen said Mr Gilmore was well aware that there were well-established mechanisms to establish the full picture of what went wrong in the bank. “When they have completed their inquiries they will report as quickly as possible on them.’’

He said one either accepted the integrity of the people involved in the investigation or one did not. “I happen to accept their integrity.’’

Mr Gilmore said he had not suggested otherwise.

Pressed further by the Labour leader, the Taoiseach said that as a result of the due diligence process undertaken on behalf of the Minister for Finance, certain matters relating to transactions involving the Quinn stake in the bank emerged which might warrant further investigation by the Financial Regulator.

Mr Cowen assured the Dáil that “any significant corporate governance issue that comes to light will be investigated by the appropriate authorities’’.

Earlier, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny claimed it was time that the Taoiseach, in his capacity as leader of the Government, “ensures that it stops dancing to the tune of developers and big bankers’’.

Mr Cowen said he would remind Mr Kenny that bringing stability to the banking system continued to be one of the Government’s top priorities.

“This issue is being dealt with by every government in the world that is concerned with the difficulties being faced in the global financial system.’’